Industrialized Farming

Last month, a salmonella scare raised by unsanitary conditions at a peanut butter plant in Georgia caused widespread panic and ended in a recall of millions, if not billions of products that contained the dangerous peanut paste. The fact that this scare affected as many people as it did is the way we farm now. Industrialized farming is the way of the future when it comes to farming, because the concentration of resources is the best way to make a profit in a free market economy. However, this does not mean that it is the perfect way to make food for purchase. As demonstrated by the peanut butter scare, if one plant of farm has a problem, it affects the entire country and economy, which is like putting all our eggs in one basket, a proverbial no-no. However, with enough trucks to transport california strawberries all the way to Erie Pa, it would seem like a waste not to use the countries infrastructure to diversify the food at the local supermarket. It also means that if one community is in drought, the rest of the country can pick in and send them food to eat so they don't starve. However, everyone has a niche, so try to buy from the local farm. Usually the food will be fresher anyways, and you could be saving a local job. 

Soy in food

I believe that soy will make you healthier- in moderation. Like anything in life, even food which seems harmless at first can quickly become a serious problem if it is abused. Everything is good in moderation, no matter how good it seems at first. This is why the diets that claim you can lose weight by eating nothing but carbs, which is very unhealthy. Also, your body really doesn't know what protein it's breaking down. However, soy does contain some rather unhealthy substances, and was listed as an industrial product not a food in the 1913 USDA handbook. Soy baby food is also very unhealthy for babies to eat, as a days worth of soy baby food has enough phytoestrogens to mimic giving the infant 5 birth control pills a day. The soy plant is also very susceptible to any metals in the soil in which it grows, so if it is grown in a field with a lot of aluminum, there will be excess amounts of aluminum in the end soy products. However, eating about 25 to 50 grams of soy a day can reduce your LDL, or bad cholesterol by 10%.  Soy also fights the narrowing of blood vessels, which leads to heart disease and hypertension, the silent killers of America. Like I said, in reasonable amounts, soy improve your health and improve your life. In excess, however, it can be dangerous.